Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Sunday, November 30, 2025

Book: Different Seasons

 Book: Different Seasons

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 608


This is my 199th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
This gripping collection begins with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge.  Next is "Apt Pupil" the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town.  In "The Body" four rambunctiou young boys plunge through the facade of a small town and coe face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality.  This novella became the movie Stand By Me.  Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in "The Breathing Method".

Stars: 4.5


Saturday, November 29, 2025

Book: The Whispered Word

 Book: The Whispered Word

Author: Ellery Adams

Pages: 304


This is my 198th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Nora Pennington, owner of Miracle Books, believes that a well-chosen novel can bring healing and hope.  But she and the other members of the Secret, book, and Scone Society know that sometimes, practical help is needed too.  Such is the case with the reed-thin girl hiding in the fiction section of Nora's store, wearing a hospital ID and a patchwork of faded bruises.  She calls herself Abilene, and though Nora and her friends offer work, shelter, and a supportive ear, their guest isn't ready to divulge her secrets.  But when a customer is found dead in an assumed suicide, Nora uncovers a ocnnection that points to Abilene as either a suspect - or another target.  Summer's end has brought other new arrivals to Miracle Springs too.  Entrepreneur Griffin Kingsley opens Virtual Genie, a cyber business that unloads people's unwanted goods for cash.  With the town in an economic slump and folks hurting for money, Virtual Genie and its owner are both instantly popular.  A patient listener, Griffin dispenses candy to children and strong coffee to adults, and seems like a bona fide gentleman.  But Nora's not inclined to judge a book by its cover.  And when a second death hits town, Nora and her intrepid friends must help the new, greenhorn sheriff discern fact from fiction - and stop a killer intent on bringing another victims story to a close.

Stars: 4




Thursday, November 27, 2025

Book: The Three Lives of Cate Kay

 Book: The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Author: Kate Fagan

Pages: 304


This is my 197th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Cate Kay knows how to craft a story.  As the creator of a bestselling book triogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation.  The thing is, Cake Kay doesn't really exist.  She's never attended author events or granted any interviews.  Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.  As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda fantasized escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars.  But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future.  But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again.

Stars: 2.5



Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Book: Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man

 Book: Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man

Author: Jesse Sutanto

Pages: 336


This is my 196th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good.  For Vera that is.  She's surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tily, has a girlfriend!  All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray.  The very same Officer Gray that she has harassed while investigating the teahouse murder.  Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly bored.  Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance.  The young woman is looking for a missing friend.  Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tily and Selena's Vera finds a treasure trove:  Selena's brieftcase.  Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer - who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.  Online, Xander had it all:  a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer.  The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can't seem to actually identify him.  Who is Xander Lin?  Nobody knows.  Every contact is a dead end.  Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.  Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder.  After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn't do for her future daughter-in-law.

Stars: 3



Monday, November 24, 2025

Book: Radium Girls

 Book: Radium Girls

Author: Kate Moore

Pages: 400


This is my 195th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community.  From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.  Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil midst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories.  The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night life industrious fireflies.  With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive - until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.  But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption.  And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find theselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.  

Very interesting story.  Unbelievable that the girls who worked in these dial factorise used to put the brushes in their mouths to make the painting percise.  Killed so many women.  Intersesting name drop in this book (besides the Curies'):  Dr. Ewing treated many of these women and Ewing's sacroma is what is named after him.  

Stars: 4


Book: End of Story

 Book: End of Story

Author: AJ Finn

Pages: 416


This is my 194th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correstpondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction.  With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story - while living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana: his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine.  Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life "detective-fever".  Twenty years earlier - on New Year's Eve 1999- Sebastian's first wife and teenage son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again.  Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime?  And why has he emerged from seclusion, 2 decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past?  As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian's life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth - while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long ago night.  And when a corpse appears in the family's koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn't gone - it's just waiting.

Stars: 2.5


Sunday, November 23, 2025

Book: Broken Country

 Book: Broken Country

Author: Clair Leslie Hall

Pages: 320


This is my 193rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on ht epast staying buried.  But when Beth's brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn't realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives.  For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager - the man who broke her heart years ago.  Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.  As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel's life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences.  Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

Stars: 4.5


Thursday, November 20, 2025

Book: Indigo Room

 Book: The Indigo Room

Author: Stephen Graham Jones

Pages: 35


This is my 192nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Don't lose your head over office politics - the horros of the modern workplace meet actual horror in a fiendishly entertaining short story.  When the lights go out and the slideshos begins, middle manager, Jennifer, has a disturbing vision: a headless colleague right across the boardroom table.  Is it a trick of the light, or a vision of the future?  She tries to brush it off and salvage the afternoon - but when her ex unexpectedly drops off her son at the office after school, suddently her whole world takes an alarming turn.

Stars. 2.5 


Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Book: The Strength of the Few

 Book: The Strength of the Few

Author: James Islington

Pages: 736


This is my 191st read for the year

What Amazon Says
The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus.  Still hail me as Catenicus.  They still, as one, believe they know who I am.  But with all that has happened - with what I fear is coming - I am not sure it matters anymore.  I am no longer one.  I won te ludicium, and lost everything - and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds.  A different version of myself in each of Obiteium, LEceum, and Res.  Three different bodies, three different lives.  I have to hide; fight; play politics.  I have to train;trust;lie.  I have to kill;heal;prove myself again and again and again.  I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.  Above all, though, I need to find answers before it's too late.  To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.  I need to find a way to stop the coing Cataclysm, because all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.

Stars: 4.5




Book: The Correspondent

 Book: The Correspondent

Author: Virginia Evans

Pages: 304


This is my 190th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person.  It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdoe of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.  Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it.  Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters - to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audti a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurty to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.  Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has - a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguised lawyer, she has leved a very full life.  But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful perios of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

This was a great book.  It is a popular one right now, and I have to admit I was worried going in that it wasn't going to be for me.  But it drew me in from the start.  A life told in letters was a wonderful way to write a book.  I imagined my own grandmother and how she probably did similar writings during her life - almost a whole life before the internet made letter writing almost obsolete - and what I wouldn't give to have some of those correspondence to see what she wrote.  this book is well written, and flows at a great pace.  I even got a little teary with the end.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 5


Monday, November 17, 2025

Book: I Who Have Never Known Men

 Book: I Who Have Never Known Men

Author: Jacqueline Harpman

Pages: 208


This is my 189th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Deep underground, 39 women live imprisoned in a cage.  Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.  As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the 40th prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner.  Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Stars: 3.5


Friday, November 14, 2025

Book: We Are All Guilty Here

 Book:  We are all Guilty Here

Author: Karin Slaughter

Pages: 448


This is my 188th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Welcome to North Falls - a small town where everyone knows everyone.  Or so they think. Until the night of the fireworks.  When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites.  For Officer Emmy Clifton, it's personal.  She turned away when her best friend's daughter needed help - and now she must bring her home.  But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them.  Nobody did.  Every teenage girl has secrets.  But who would kill for them?  And what else is the town hiding?

Stars: 4.5


Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Book: Rose Madder

 Book: Rose Madder

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 560


This is my 187th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
After surviving fourteen years of hell in a violently abusive marriage, Rosie Daniels has finally summoned the courage to flee for her life.  But leaving her husband Norman for a new city and a new start is a very daunting prospect.  It's hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder, and with good reason - Norman's a police officer with the instincts of a predator, a force of relentless terror and savagery - a man almost mythic in his monstrosity.  He's very good at finding pelpe, even if he is losing his mind.  Rosie's only hope for salvation may lie in a far more dnagerous place, where she must become her own myth and the woman she never knew she could be.

Stars: 4 


Monday, November 10, 2025

Book: Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

 Book: Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead

Author: Jenny Hollander

Pages: 304


This is my 186th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
9 years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled.  The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nighmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve - events known to the public as Scarlet Christmas - though Charlie knows she was much more than that.  Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life.  She' the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again.  But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everthing she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in 9 years.  Now, she's not going to let anything - not even the people she once loved most - get in her way.

Stars: 3


Saturday, November 8, 2025

Book: Oryx and Crake

 Book: Oryx and Crake

Author: Margaret Atwood

Pages: 383


This is my 185th read for the year
I read this book in September but forgot to publish it

What Amazon Says:

A stunning and provocative new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize

Margaret Atwood’s new novel is so utterly compelling, so prescient, so relevant, so terrifyingly-all-too-likely-to-be-true, that readers may find their view of the world forever changed after reading it.

This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers. For readers of 
Oryx and Crake, nothing will ever look the same again.

The narrator of Atwood's riveting novel calls himself Snowman. When the story opens, he is sleeping in a tree, wearing an old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. He searches for supplies in a wasteland where insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is he left with nothing but his haunting memories? Alone except for the green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster, he explores the answers to these questions in the double journey he takes - into his own past, and back to Crake's high-tech bubble-dome, where the Paradice Project unfolded and the world came to grief.

With breathtaking command of her shocking material, and with her customary sharp wit and dark humour, Atwood projects us into an outlandish yet wholly believable realm populated by characters who will continue to inhabit our dreams long after the last chapter. This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers.

Stars: 3


Book: 3 Days, 9 months, 27 years The Time Traveler's Passport

 Book: 3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years The Time Traveler's Passport

Author: John Scalzi

Pages: 38


This is m 184th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
A time travel technician must step away from the controls and take action in  twisty short story where timing is everything.  Time travel is real - and used for high-end tourism.  Every moment of the past is open to visitors, and no matter what they do then, everything now waits for them, thanks to the sure hand of an experienced time travel technician.  Come spend a day behind the controls of the time machine, and discover why, this day of all days, it's time for this technician to make a change.  Because sometimes, time travel is more than just an adventure.  Sometimes, its a moral imperative.

Stars: 4



Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Book: Paper Ghosts

 Book: Paper Ghosts

Author: Julia Heaberlin

Pages: 368


This is my 183rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Years ago, her sister Rachel vanished.  Now she is almost certain the man who took Rachel sits in he passenger seat beside her.  He claims to have dementia and no memory of murdering girls across Texas in a string of places where he shot eerie pictures.  To find the truth, she proposes a dangerous idea: a 10 day road trip with a possible serial killer to examine cold cases linked to her haunting photographs.  Is he a liar or a broken old man?  Is he a pathological con artist - or is she?  You won't see the final, terrifying twist spinning your way until the very last mile.

Stars: 3



Monday, November 3, 2025

Book: When The Stars Go Dark

 Book: When The Stars Go Dark

Author: Paula McClain

Pages: 384


This is my 182nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature.  When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve.  She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her.  Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing.  The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever.  As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment.  The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators.  As Anna becomes obsessed with saving the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in. 

Stars: 4